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Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in November, and the unemployment rate edged down to 7.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics reported today.

Now, anyone who follows these things can't help but be suspicious of the optimistic numbers being reported, and I'm one of them.

I believe the numbers are being manipulated as an attempt to restore faith in the system.

It seems to me that the economic spin coming from the Fed has really intensified this past two months. The rise in intensity tells me that they are VERY afraid of the American public losing faith in their efforts.

The Fed is in a tough place. Everything about how our economy functions relies on the faith of the American public.

If Americans continue to see economic improvement, they'll believe that our economy is on the mend, become less fearful, start spending their money, and begin accumulating debt again, thereby perpetuating economic growth.

However, if Americans see a faltering economy, they'll lose more faith in the system, continue to be fearful, hold onto their cash, and invest less, thereby perpetuating the problem.

Makes sense, right?

But, an argument traversing throughout internet financial forums is that only a crazy person would think that the Fed could manipulate the numbers because so many different people are involved.

My argument is that the Fed has lied and manipulated Americans throughout our history on numerous occasions, and will manipulate economic numbers "legally" if they think it serves the interests of our nation as a whole.

Let's not forget that the people creating and manipulating the data are all government employees - they'll follow orders, especially if they can be convinced that it's the patriotic thing to do.

If their leaders tell them to change the classification or description of certain data, they'll do it. If their leaders tell them to include or exclude certain data in their calculations, they'll do it. It's not like they're actually changing the numbers themselves, or creating "fake" numbers.

Although it may be considered misleading, they're not doing something "illegal", so they'll follow orders, especially if they want to keep their jobs and avoid becoming one of those numbers.

And that's what I believe has happened with the last two BLS unemployment reports. In order to make it look like unemployment numbers are improving, certain populations of the unemployed are being excluded from the calculations.

I believe the Fed is desperate for economic improvement and is putting a positive spin on the data in order to make it happen.

So, I posted this story not only because it's a great story and that it's Pearl Harbor Day, but because I wanted to highlight a situation in which government employees will do whatever their leaders order them to do if they believe it's in the best interest of their country.

But of course, I must be too cynical in my opinion of certain behaviors of government workers. There's no way that people in responsible positions would ever bend the rules in order to serve their own agenda, or to support a political position.

So then, I present this recent research paper as what I believe to be evidence that supports my opinion.

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Individual investor who's able to profitably divine truth from lies, foretell fact from fiction, channel investor psychology, mystically predict market movements, and ascertain the answers having never before seen the questions.